For Colored Artists Who Considered Working At McDonald’s When Bad Boy Records Wasn’t Enough

Have you ever been in a store where they were playing the ONLY jams? By ONLY, I mean the songs that you and your girls used to get ready to go to the club to. By ONLY, I mean the songs you and your boys used to ride around in the whip looking to get into to some necessary trouble. By ONLY, I mean the songs that you only can recall the lyrics to as soon as you hear the bass drop and Fat Man Scoop screaming ‘CROOKLYN CLAN!” over the 808. That happened to me on Friday.

I was walking through Best Buy in downtown Manhattan spending thousands (in my head). I walked through the Beats by Dre section because there were cute boys and I wanted to impress them with my music savvy. All of a sudden, I hear the bass of a song I knew would cause SERIOUS two step session. It was everyone’s favorite hood classic “Mo Money, Mo Problems” by Notorious B. I. G. featuring Puff Daddy and Kelly Price. (I challenge you to play Highlights: Which one of these things is not like the other. Laugh. You’re welcome.) While in my state of negrodian euphoria, I pushed through my normal thoughts on my theory that Puffy killed Biggie, and thought about all the good music that has came from Bad Boy Records/Entertainment. Craig Mack, 112, Danity Kane, Dream, G-Dep…. Where did they all go?

In my head, they are all on the island of misfit toys waiting to be rescued by Rudolph and his mammoth friend Denali. This makes life easier to deal with. It seems so odd to me that such great music from these budding artists came to a screeching halt because of one man’s (and I use the term loosely) negligence. I came across a couple of videos on YouTube reminiscing of what could have been until I saw something that really summed up everything I could ever say about Puffy, Diddy, Ciroc Obama, WhateverTheFuck…

About The Author

X. D. is a blogger, social commentator, and digital content creator from New York City by way of the San Francisco Bay Area. He writes and vlogs about the everyday musings of what it is to be a Black male in a large city at TheXDExperience.com. X. D. takes his social commentary to his podcast “2 Guys And A Girl” on iTunes. He’s also been featured on TheRoot.com, Mused Magazine and panels such as the infamous BasseyWorldLive founded by Def Poet, Bassey Ikpi.

Dream!! I practically screamed their whole album my high school years. And Carl Thomas’s Emotional was constantly on repeat: Come to me, summer rain, superstar. Oh Diddy, stop ruining people’s careers.